Mixing the low-mids of a song to sound balanced, defined and purposeful can be a real challenge, especially for those new to mixing. Mixes that sound over-pronounced in the lower midrange are typically described as being flabby or muddy. What a listener perceives as mud in a mix is usually within the 100Hz - 300Hz range, lots of instruments compete for this space making it essential we know how to deal with mud when it starts becoming a problem in our mixes.

It takes years to train our ears & hone our mixing skills get balanced yet purposeful sounding low-mid range. that sounds a bit depressing but fear not, there are some simple reasons why you may be struggling to get the low-mid range sounding right in your mix. 

In this article we cover a handful of reasons why your mixes may be sounding muddy along with some useful tips to help you treat the dreaded mud… Remember...

Do You Trust Your Studio Monitors?

All important mixing decisions are based on what we hear from our studio monitors. It’s difficult to know if we have added too much low-end energy without using a set of trustworthy monitors. Read our article How To Position Your Studio Monitors For Optimal Sounding Results to find out if your monitors are positioned to sound their absolute best.

Studios in small rooms suffer from a range of acoustic issues such as standing waves. These play havoc on the frequency response of studio monitors. Standing waves can quite literally cut a 6-10dB chunk out of the low-mids of our monitoring, say between 80-100Hz. If you mix with a dip like this in your monitors you can easily mix the low-mid range to sound strong (balanced) in your studio only to discover when playing back your mix back through a consumer system in the real world you’ve overcompensated for the acoustic problems in your room resulting in your mix sounding muddy and boomy. 

Take time to ensure your monitors are set up in a way that makes them work for you, not against you. Speaker calibration software is a great tool to incorporate into your workflow as it measures the frequency response of your monitors and, by use of EQ and other smart processes, flattens the response of your monitors enabling you to make better informed mixing choices.

Are You Referencing & Comparing Your Mixes?

Referencing is a very simple yet extremely useful technique used in mixing and mastering workflows. It enables us to compare the soundscape and balance of a mixed song similar in style and vibe with a mix we’re working on. Referencing gives us an idea if we are over-egging the pudding in the low-end department.

• Check out Master The Mix REFERENCE software

Are You Testing Your Mixes On Other Playback Systems?

Knowing exactly how your mix sounds through your main studio monitors is one thing, but how do your mixes sound on other systems? Testing your mix on a variety of playback systems will give you a very good idea how your mix will sound and translate out in the real world.

If you hear an undefined muddy mid-range on at least two other playback systems then hopefully that should tell you what you need to do to the mix back in the studio. It’s also worth getting into the habit of occasionally checking your mixes on a decent set of studio headphones as these typically provide a flatter frequency response compared to monitors.

How Much High-Pass Filtering Are You Applying?

High-pass/low-cut filters are essential tools that help us to combine tracks in a mix. A mix will most likely suffer the mud without several high pass filters across key tracks in the mix.

High-pass filtering a track is an extremely simple process. A great way to learn how to use high pass filters is to sweep the band until you hear the filter taking away too much body from a track. When you hear a noticeable difference in totality dial the band back slightly. A general rule of thumb is to high-pass tracks that do not need to sit in the lower end of things in the mix such as guitars and vocals. Leave at least 100Hz and below in the overall mix picture for kick drums and bass instruments. 

Tracked vocals, guitars, pianos, synths and even percussion all have unnecessary low-end energy. This rumble can sometimes be completely inaudible in the context of a mix. Vocal plosives, electric guitar cabinet rumble and even computer noise, if not cut away through high pass filters, will all build up, especially in large mix sessions. This can cause tracks to compete for no reason causing a flabby undefined low-mid range. High passing tracks helps us to focus instruments which in turns helps us to sit tracks together better while also keeping space available in the low end for key bass instruments.

Does Your Mix Have Too Many Ideas?

Sometimes a mix will simply feature way too many musical ideas. Music production is all about choosing the right combination of instruments that together support a song and mix, but don’t forget it is equally important to choose what should be taken away from a mix for the better of the song. It’s easy to track 15 guitars, 4 synths and a million vocals but these excessive ideas maybe contributing to the mud you are hearing in your mix. 

Don’t Over Do It

If your next mix needs some of the mud cleaning out try to avoid fixing it by scooping out too much of the low to mid frequencies with EQ as this will result in mixes that sound honkey and pinched. Always try to establish the instrument or track where the majority of the muddiness is coming from, treat that track first with high-pass and some gentle EQ cuts as these moves will most likely solve most of your muddy issues. 

How do you go about cleaning the mud from mixes?